The Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, described the meeting between President Gustavo Petro and the directors of the country’s Health Promotion Companies (EPS) as a very constructive conversation.
At the end of the meeting, after a conversation of more than three hours, the senior official explained that “clearly the EPS must adapt to the new system, and they have all the conditions to adapt, that they understand the new design of the primary care close to citizens will have the possibility of surviving and being part of the system indefinitely”.
In the same way, he affirmed that President Petro recognized the nearly 30 years of experience of these entities in the accumulation of information in medical and financial matters. “From this perspective, the system wants to use these three decades of experience, so that they are not lost and that all this accumulation of knowledge is put at the service of the health of Colombians. In such a way that we are listening to everyone and articulating the best proposal so that the right to health is effective for all”.
The minister emphasized that “under no circumstances does the health reform project eliminate the EPS, nor does it set a subsistence transition term; those that are conditioned and believe that they can coexist within the same prevention and primary care system will have every possibility of developing their corporate purpose at the service of Colombians throughout the territory”.
Regarding when the text of the initiative will be filed, taking advantage of the start of the extra sessions in Congress, Prada explained that “There is a conflict that has been unleashed in Cauca regarding the provision of the teachers’ health service that has made us think that this could be an opportunity to solve the teachers’ health problem; in such a way that at this precise moment several dialogues are being generated with the Minister of Labor, on the one hand, and with the Minister of Health, on the other, and between Friday and Saturday we are going to review if we have the conditions to resolve once the problem or the conditions of provision of health services”.
“I estimate between 150 and 200 thousand teachers, teachers for whom we could substantially improve the system. Therefore, as long as there is a chance to resolve the situation, it is worth waiting a few hours and filing the project next Monday”, Prada concluded.
In the same way, President Petro expressed himself through his networks after the meeting ended: “I describe the meeting with the EPS as excellent. There is a will to move to the new model. The EPS value the need to implement the preventive health model and primary care throughout Colombia”.
Some of the EPS executives who were present were: Juan Pablo Rueda, president of Sanitas; Juan Gonzalo López, president of Saludtotal; Andrés Barragán, president of Compensar; Pablo Botero, president of SURA; Julián Guillermo Guerra, president of Comfenalco Valle, and representatives of AlianSalud, Salud Mía, Salud Comfenalco, Asociación Mutual SER – Solidarity Health Company and Coosalud.
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More points of what the reform would be continue to be known. One of this is that La Nueva EPS would be the one that would take care of the workers and patients that the Government considers to be not viable, both financially and operationally.
Another concern for the EPS is that the bill contemplates the creation of a single information system, but it is not interoperable or applicable to the reality of many regions.
It is also worth remembering that it was known that the debts of the EPS in the country are valued at 23.3 trillion pesos, the obligations correspond to: $16.6 trillion to the active EPS in the sector, $1.7 trillion to the liquidated EPS and $5 billion to the EPS in liquidation.
The most recent report from the Superintendency of Health indicates that 14 entities are in the process of liquidation: Saludcoop, Medimás, Coomeva, Comfacundi, Emdisalud, Comfacartagena, Ambuq, Comparta, Saludvida, Cafesalud, Cruz Blanca, Confacor, Manexka, Comfanariño.
On the other hand, under special surveillance are: Asmet Salud, Capresoca, Comfachocó, Comfaguajira, Comfahuila, Convida, Ecoopsos and Savia Salud.
Likewise, under the recovery program they continue Capital Health and Comfaoriente.